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McCreevy quits bank post after ethics ruling

Charlie McCreevy, former European commissioner for the internal market, has resigned from his post at a UK investment bank after a Commission ethics panel said the job posed a potential conflict of interest.

A Commission spokesman today (8 October) said that the Irish former commissioner had agreed to resign from his post at NBNK Investments after talks with EU officials about the opinion issued by the ethics committee on 24 August.

McCreevy notified the ethics panel in July of his intention to join the executive board of NBNK. However, the panel found there was a conflict of interest between taking up a directorship at the bank and his previous role as commissioner for the EU’s internal market.

The bank in London confirmed that McCreevy had decided to give up his job “with immediate effect”.

The Commission spokesman said McCreevy’s resignation showed that the Commission’s code of conduct “works well”. This was the first time the panel had ruled that a former commissioner should not take up another job.

In May, the ethics panel gave its approval for McCreevy to join the board of the airline Ryanair, a post he took up shortly after ending his term as commissioner in February.

The announcement comes amid growing concern in the European Parliament that the code of conduct rules for former commissioners are too lax. MEPs are also upset over the so-called transition allowances system that pays thousands of euros per month to former commissioners, some of whom also have new jobs. MEPs froze part of next year’s budget for commissioners’ salaries and allowances unless changes are made to the commissioners’ code of conduct to stop people from collecting double pay.

McCreevy, along with 16 other former commissioners who served between 2004 and 2009, receives the monthly transitional allowance. Under the Commission’s rules on financial entitlements for commissioners, they can draw the allowance for three years following the end of their term. But if they get a job in the meantime, they can still collect the allowance. The pay is meant to avoid possible conflicts of interest for ex-commissioners who might be enticed to join lobby firms or companies upon leaving office. The allowance is only reduced if ex-commissioners earn more than their Commission salary after leaving office.